2011 British GP team review

Despite the rain-hit practice on Friday Sam Michael said Williams were still able to complete their evaluation of new diffusers, exhausts, engine settings and a new front wing. All the new parts were kept on the cars.

Barrichello was frustrated to miss Q3, saying: “I had traffic at the end of my first timed lap in Q2 which damaged my second timed lap as well.

“When a track like this is drying out you can lose everything so it?óÔé¼Ôäós very unfortunate that happened.”

Both cars started poorly, Barrichello dropping four places to 19th. The FW32s struggled for pace in the wet conditions, as Sam Michael explained:

“Our pace on the intermediate tyre wasn’t good enough today. Compared to some of the guys in the top ten, our lap times on the dry tyre were respectable, but we just lost too much time in the opening laps to be able to make up any ground.”

Maldonado has put in a couple of strong qualifying performances this season. I hate to say it, but Pastor looks more impressive than Hulkenberg did at this point of the season last year. Hulkenberg stepped up his game big time towards the end of the season, and lets see if Maldonado can do the same this year.

I think Maldonado should be thrashing his teammate by the end of the year. Its just a matter of time before he gets to grips with his machine and F1 in general. Rubens is just a waste of space on the grid, I have no idea what Rubens is trying to accomplish in his 20th season in F1

Maldonado has continued to improve this year. He has looked really good in qualifying. I was underwhelmed at the start of the year however he is gradually getting more comfortable. Can’t help but wonder what his progress would be like if the teams were still allowed to test and he could get a few more laps under his belt.

Play nice with Rubens :)
While I agree that I don’t understand what he hopes to accomplish from this point everyone needs a job and his job looks a lot more fun than mine.

I just cannot get myself to do it. When I think about all the new talent that deserves a spot in this sport, and that they cannot enter F1 because Rubens just wants hang on to his job, it just annoys me.

I think that the Williams car let both of them down in the first stint, and it has tended to do that for a while now.

Maldonado seems better than Huelkenberg at getting the car well places in aualifying, but like Huelkenberg in Brazil, can’t hold on to his position in the race. Maybe they are also struggling with full race fuel balance. like Mercedes were earlier in the season.

Now how about showing some quali stats?
Pastor has made it to Q3 three times.. while Rubens has failed to make it into Q3 even once this season. Rubens is the only mid field driver who hasn’t even made it to Q3 even once this season.

And how about factoring in Maldonado’s bump on the side in Monaco from Hamilton? Lets not forget that Maldonado was on for delivering Williams’ best result of the season in Monaco (6th).

Rookies are bound to make mistakes… what we are looking at is speed and potential in Maldonado. And that he definitely has more of than Rubens.

Alguersuari, Sutil, Heidfeld and Button are all doing worser in qualifying then their teamates, but still have more or equall points in standings… Some drivers are just better on 1 lap, some are better on a distance… That s how it is… And the races of Maldonado are at the moment very dissapointing… (except Monaco)

Ok, with some of these things I can agree… (the potential of Maldonado and the crash in Monaco caused by Hamilton)…
But Rubens is still a valuable option for a team like Williams…
1/ He has a plenty of experience,
2/ Is technically skilled, so can be usefull in the develepement area
3/ Is reliable as a driver, which is clearly seen in races…